Recommend me a printer

[Ataturk]

Find cheap ink and buy a printer that uses it--seriously.

FWIW you could probably fix your old printer. My 10+ year-old Canon failed and it turned out to be a clogged waste-ink hose I could have fixed with a pipe cleaner (I actually threw about $70 worth of parts at it). But I have a small crate of 75-cent ink cartridges so it was worth it.

 

[akatsuki]

Buy a laser, inkjets **** you on ink costs.

We've been okay with Brother for a while.

 

[whiteslashasian]

I have a Brother duplex laser printer that I got at black friday for $40 two years ago. It's been working flawlessly. I have it set up as a network Printer attached to my main Desktop (which is rarely powered off) so I can print from any laptop or even my tablet.

 

[otc]



I hate buying printers more than any other piece of technology... that said, anyone have a good laser printer recommendation for home office use?
I could probably get away with black and white, but might check out color options as well.
It doesn't need to scan/fax, though wireless is important and auto-duplex would be a huge plus. Looking for good print quality, reliability, and reasonably priced toner refills over the long term (would rather pay more for the printer up front, etc). It'll mostly be used for text, some graphics, but not photos.

I have a Lexmark e450dn that was purchased when I moved into my college apartment and there would be 5 people printing crap. Laser is key for crisp text and longevity since toner is cheap and lasts forever compared to ink. It has auto duplexing which is great.
What do you mean by wireless? The printer itself takes an ethernet cable, so you have to have it near your router, but I can print wirelessly to it from any of my computers.

Obviously that is an old model. but it looks like either the e260dn or the e460dn would work perfectly (or the e460dw if you absolutely need wireless on the printer end). I got it with a ton of rebates so it was cheap...but it was definitely worth the full price.


For you and Teger's scanning needs--just pick up a flatbed scanner. They are dirt cheap on ebay for an older model and take up very little space. Those multifunction devices tend to be crap.

 

[ter1413]

Bump if anyone has additional recs.
I am looking for an all in one: print/scan/fax/copy. Doubt I will print flicks.....
Reading this thread has me thinking about laser.....

 

[Rambo]



Bump if anyone has additional recs.
I am looking for an all in one: print/scan/fax/copy. Doubt I will print flicks.....
Reading this thread has me thinking about laser.....

cheap or expensive? work or home? etc.

laser all the way. i've got a midlevel Brother all-in-one. its the **** - cheap toner, relatively easy to operate, does exactly what its supposed to do. and the best part? i got it for free after rebate.

 

[ter1413]

home. price is not an issue but want a hot meal for a fair price. i saw this:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11CC36201

what brother do you have?

 

[otc]

How big of a hurry are you in?

This:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...g=slicinc-20&ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
was $160 a couple of days ago but the current price isn't awful.

You definitely want laser unless you plan to print pictures (but there are tons of places that can print a better photo than you can at home....and if you work out the ink costs, they do it for less too).

Stuff like this shows up pretty often on slickdeals if you are willing to wait. You could set up a Deal Alert to email you anytime someone starts a thread for one...pretty easy keywords to get at, try any of these combos:
printer all
laser fax
printer scan laser
etc....all of those should pick up All-In-One laser printers and send you an email whenever someone posts a deal.

Edit: and if you are cool with not needing wireless (you can still print wirelessly, you just have to plug the printer into an ethernet cable), this guy is a lot cheaper:
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-imageCLASS-MF4770n-Monochrome-Printer/dp/B008YD1V6C/ref=pd_sim_e_6

 

[ter1413]

Tks.. I def want/need wireless. I would probably not need to print flicks. I want the best bang for my buck. Also want it in the next month...

 

[Rambo]



home. price is not an issue but want a hot meal for a fair price. i saw this:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11CC36201

what brother do you have?

http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Printer-MFC7360N-Monochrome-Networking/dp/B004QM99K0

This is the newer, wireless version:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004QM99JG

Also, keep an eye out for sales and printer trade-in deals. You can often save $50 on a new printer if you trade one in. If you don't have an old one, you can buy one off CL for like $10.

 

[otc]



Tks.. I def want/need wireless. I would probably not need to print flicks. I want the best bang for my buck. Also want it in the next month...

Just to be clear, you can still print wirelessly from your laptop on the second printer I mentioned (or the first of Rambo's). Only the printer needs to be connected to the network with a cable...so if your printer is in the same room as your router/modem (or you have wiring run in the house), you are good to go.

Otherwise it looks like there's ~$50 premium on wireless.

 

[Ataturk]

Laser printers have kind of a long warmup time for occasional home use. You also have to replace the drums and fusers as well as toner cartridges -- and they are expensive and have surprisingly short service lives.

Like I said before, you should pick your printer based on how much it costs to print with it, not how much it costs up front.

 

[ter1413]



Just to be clear, you can still print wirelessly from your laptop on the second printer I mentioned (or the first of Rambo's). Only the printer needs to be connected to the network with a cable...so if your printer is in the same room as your router/modem (or you have wiring run in the house), you are good to go.

Otherwise it looks like there's ~$50 premium on wireless.

Tks. My printer and router are in diff rooms...

Laser printers have kind of a long warmup time for occasional home use. You also have to replace the drums and fusers as well as toner cartridges -- and they are expensive and have surprisingly short service lives.

Like I said before, you should pick your printer based on how much it costs to print with it, not how much it costs up front.

Good 2 know...

 

[Rambo]



Laser printers have kind of a long warmup time for occasional home use. You also have to replace the drums and fusers as well as toner cartridges -- and they are expensive and have surprisingly short service lives.

Like I said before, you should pick your printer based on how much it costs to print with it, not how much it costs up front.

by long warmup time he means 20 seconds. ooooh, so it doesn't come on instantly...

and all the associated costs are mitigated with generics and WAY cheaper over the long run than using inkjets.

 

[otc]

Yeah....my old inkjet took WAY longer to warm up than my laser printer if it hadn't been used in a while. It wasn't really a warmup...more like an abbreviated self-clean...but it took a long time.

If my laser printer is on and just asleep (which is how you would probably leave it if it is a wireless print/copy/fax type machine), it has usually already printed the page by the time I walk over there. Mine is a print-only Lexmark (I have a small flatbed scanner in a drawer somewhere if I ever need it and I don't even have a phone line so a fax is useless), but I doubt a multi-function would have a worse warm-up time.

Takes a little longer from a cold start...after I flip the switch, the firmware has to boot up, and then the printer has to warm up...maybe a minute total.